撕苞蕗蕨 si bao lu jue

Mecodium stenocladum Ching & P. S. Chiu, Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 2: 351. 1959 ["stenochladum"].

Plants 5-10 cm tall. Rhizome brown, filiform, subglabrous, with sparse hairy rootlets. Stipes remote, 1-2 cm apart, brown, 2-5 cm × ca. 0.3 mm, glabrous, narrowly winged, wings caducous. Rachis and costae dark brown, slightly zigzag, glabrous, narrowly winged throughout, wings flat. Lamina bipinnate to tripinnatifid, ovate, 3-5 × ca. 1.5 cm, membranous, glabrous, apex obtuse; pinnae 5-8 pairs, basal ones ca. 5 mm apart, upper ones closely spaced, alternate, shortly stalked, spreading, ovate, 8-13 × 4-6 mm, base unequally cuneate, apex obtuse; pinnules 3 or 4 pairs, alternate, shortly stalked, ovate to cuneate, 3-4 × 2-3 mm, base decurrent, apex obtuse; ultimate segments simple or forked, closely spaced, flat, oblong-linear, 1-3 × 0.5-0.8 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse. Veins dichotomous, slightly raised on each surface, brown, glabrous, with a single veinlet. Sori on upper parts of frond, apical on short acroscopic segments; involucres triangular or narrowly ovate, ca. 1.5 mm, with long thin teeth at apex, apex acuminate; lips deeply cleft, lobes constricted below base of involucres.

● On wet rocks near streams in forests; ca. 2200 m. NW Yunnan.